11.24.2006

Reason Magazine - Brother, Can You Spare 22 Terawatts?

An interesting article on how daunting it may be to meet the energy demands of a fully developed world. I think the analysis is good, but flawed in assuming no improvements to efficiency or other technologies.

Nocera calculates that if 9 billion people in 2050 used energy at the rate that Americans do today that the world would have to generate 102.2 TW of powerÂmore than seven times current production. If people adopted the energy lifestyle of Western Europe, power production would need to rise to 45.5 terawatts.